Alice Springs - Tess' birthday

DAY 14 – ALICE SPRINGS                                                                                     Saturday, 16th July

Tessie’s birthday!!!  We woke up our little sleeping beauty to a caravan full of balloons and birthday sign (care of the beautiful Amy!) and the smell of bacon and eggs on the barbie!!  My SECOND little baby to turn 10!!! The Parsons came over for bacon and egg muffins and then headed off on a drive.  We were very slack and did not get out of her until about 11am.  Went searching for a heater as the one we were using for the kids decided to pack it in last night.  It is still very cold here in the dessert at night.  COULD NOT FIND A DAMNED FAN HEATER IN THE WHOLE OF ALICE SPRINGS.  My poor babies have gone to sleep tonight with beanies on, wheat bags, and blankets wrapped around them in their sleeping bags!!  Hope they will be warm enough.  Otherwise, I will have three of them in my single bed at 2am (Tess doesn’t wake up for anything!)

It was a lovely day today.  We went up to the Old Alice Springs Overland Telegraph Station and had a picnic in the park.  Just beautiful – the kind of place where, if you lived in Alice, you would have a picnic every Sunday.  Tess opened her presents there and the kids thought it was very funny that David kicked the football into a gum tree and got it stuck.  He then had to spend then next ten minutes throwing a rock at it to remove it!!

Then off to the School of the Air which was just fascinating.  120 children there from as far away as almost 1000 kms from Alice.  We saw a historical documentary and then watched a video of a Grade 5/6 lesson in action.  According to NAPLAN results, most of these kids are in the top 10% of students so clearly they are doing a great job.  What an effort their tutors must be making (in most cases, their Mums).  They held up the work a Grade 2 would be expected to do in a two week period.  Of course, my strange “homework addicted” son wanted to know if he could have one to do!! 

After that we popped in to the Alice Springs Reptile Centre on the advice of the Parsons, which was fantastic.  Wish they would not keep telling us that Australia has 18 of the 20 most venomous snakes in the world, and the Top 10!!  A very informative talk on the Olive Python, the Bearded Dragon lizard and the Blue Tongue lizard ensued.  Tess was very keen to keep answering questions – must be turning 10!  Then all the kids got to hold each of the animals!!  No fear at all.  Tessie was up first, keen as mustard!!  They loved it!  We then had a quick walk up  ANZAC Hill for a beautiful view of Alice before heading home for some chill out time.

Dinner tonight was at the Bojangles Restaurant in Todd Street for Tess’ birthday.  What an experience!  One of those restaurants with so much memorabilia on the walls, you just don’t know where to look first.  Unfortunately, Rob “challenged” David to eat “the Big Bugger” – an 800g steak – with the promise that he would pay for half of it if he could do it.  Have any of you ever known David Hansen to walk away from something like this?  In fact, I was told it would be “downright un-Australian” to walk away!  So it was duly consumed.  I think we forgot to pick up the Certificate that comes with it .

The kids had an absolute ball when they realised that there were cameras all around the restaurant and they could run from room to room dancing in front of the camera.  They had the whole restaurant in hysterics.  Rob and David clearly were letting loose with the kid in them too, pretending to fistfight for the cameras.  Doesn’t sound nearly as funny on paper as it was in real life – truly!!

Need to hit the sack – this place has FREE pancakes on a Sunday morningansen to walk a!  That is worth missing Mass for!  Just joking.  It is OK, Mum, we are going Sunday night!!

Kings Canyon to Alice Springs

DAY 13 – KINGS CANYON – ALICE SPRINGS

Ok. Can’t say that I am devastated to be leaving Kings Canyon.  Beautiful place but the weather was not fantastic and the lack of bread, milk, phone etc was starting to get to me.  Up early and off by 8:30am (which is not bad for everyone to be showered and dressed and fed and van packed up).  It is a pity that the Merrinee Loop through Hermannsburg is not sealed.  Or the Ernest Giles Track.  It would have saved us a couple of hundred kilometres.  Stopped at Erldunda (back on the Stuart Highway) for lunch because we only had enough bread for sandwiches for the kids and no fruit.  So we were all starving.  My hunting and gathering husband came back from the roadhouse with one moderate bag of chips.  $8.50!!!!!  A burger was $12.00!!!  So the Hansen family starved until Alice Springs!!  The kids did quite a bit of school work in the car on the way here.  We physically could not stop Ben – even when we told him he needed a break, he told us he couldn’t stop – he was addicted!!  God help us!

It was rather exciting driving into Alice Springs – being a fan of “A Town Like Alice”.  It is reasonably big for only 28,000 people but it obviously services a much larger community.  You cannot imagine my excitement at seeing a Coles, Woolworths AND Target!!  When Beth and I caught sight of a Sushi shop we almost fainted!!  David and Ben gallantly put up the van on the most enormous van site I have even seen.  We can fit our van, annexe, tent and car all on the site.  The Big 4 in Alice Springs might be a bit more expensive, but it is certainly worth it!! Beautiful camp kitchens, clean facilities AND a jumping pillow!  What more could a girl want? 

Spend the afternoon shopping for new runners for David and Bridget and some clothes for poor little Tess.  Having been very organised and packed the van early, I then had to take Tess’ clothes OUT for school camp.  Then promptly forgot to put them back!!  The poor love has been wearing the same pair of pants for two weeks!!  Being her birthday and all, I thought I could shout her a new pair of $5.00 pants from Kmart!

Got back to the park in time for the Parsons to shout our kids pancakes, and chocolate mousse and hot chocolates etc. – all from a little shop at the caravan park!!  Sooo nice!!

Kings Canyon Rim Walk

DAY 12 – KINGS CANYON

Said goodbye to the Parsons this morning and set off on our Kings Canyon walk, hailed by my husband as the most difficult walk of the Hansen Trek!!  The most surprising thing for David and I so far has been the fantastic way the kids have walked, and walked, AND WALKED, with no whinging!!!  Especially Tess – who has often been leading the pack!!  And some of the walks we have done so far have not been easy.  This walk is promoted as “difficult” and was about 7.2kms with diversions.  The first part of the walk was extraordinarily difficult with a very steep ascent up rocks to the top of the canyon – 100m high and very steep!!  Mummy, even after six months of the gym, was really puffing!!  The walk along the top of the canyon was just stunning.  You felt like you were on top of the world and in the middle of absolutely nowhere – which of course, you are!  The red rock cliffs are extraordinarily beautiful.

The next part of the walk is descending down into the “Garden of Eden” where there is a beautiful waterhole.  The bottom of the canyon is resplendent with ghost gums, cycads (relicts from the dinosaur age) and beautiful birds.  So cool and restful.  Then up to the top of the canyon again, a big walk up steps to the plateau with stunning outlooks down through the valley to Kings Creek.  Poor Bridgie was struggling by the end but I kept her entertained by doing the last kilometre or so, whilst getting her to count in fours to 140!!   A teacher of Grade 4’s in front of us was very impressed.  We had a lazy afternoon turning the tent into a picture theatre, complete with movie and popcorn!  Of course, Mummy fell asleep in the back row.  Must be all that washing I was doing at midnight the night before!!

The kids would not hear of us not going to see “The Roadies” for the third night in a row!!  I don’t think they could believe we were back again.  But the kids are just loving it.  Off to Alice tomorrow and I am very excited.  Just one of those towns I have always wanted to see.  We are there for five nights which will be really lovely especially with Tess’ birthday on Saturday.

Kings Canyon Creek Walk

DAY 11 – KINGS CANYON

It rained ALL night last night.  Our Not-So-Waterproof-Tent” was OK but not perfect!!  A little bit of drying of sleeping bags and tent and soaking shoes was necessary!!!  Pauline managed to find some bread had arrived at the shop but noticed it had been eaten by mice!  When she went to exchange it for another, she ended up asking for her money back as all the bags were the same!!

It was a bit difficult to know what to do today.  It is very overcast and raining from time to time.  A lot of people moved out today, presumably to move on to somewhere dryer! The Parsons are only here two nights so HAD to do the big Rim Walk today.  We decided to do the two shorter walks – The Kings Creek Walk and the Kathleen Springs walk – today and hope like hell that the weather fines up for the big walk tomorrow!  Both were absolutely beautiful and so secluded.  It was amazing seeing how the stockmen used to trap the cattle in the gorge near the spring water.  Little fence building needed with the natural fence of the gorge either side.

Off to “The Roadies” again tonight.  The kids are absolutely loving them!  Bridget Parsons and Beth are particularly enjoying watching their Dads dance to the Twist (NOT!).  Ben got to sing the national anthem tonight, like Tess the previous night.  We are hoping and praying for the rain to stop so the tent will dry!!

Yulara to Kings Canyon

DAY 10 – YULARA – KINGS CANYON

Took our time breaking camp this morning.  With a short drive of only 330 kms there was no hurry!!  We had a quick stop at Curtain Springs so the kids could see the aviaries housed there by the lady who owns the truck stop.  The kids loved the talking cockatoo and didn’t want to leave until it had said a naughty word!!  “Mongrel”, the emu, was not really in the mood for seven children wanting to chase and pat him, and let them know!  But actually it was a really nice stop with motel rooms as well as powered and (free) unpowered sites.  We had lunch at Kings Creek Station (absolutely freezing) before arriving at Kings Canyon Resort.  (Of course we are in the caravan park, not the “resort”!!)  I am sure it is lovely most of the year, but it is really cold and raining at the moment so we just had an early dinner and went up to the Pub for a night with “The Roadies”, a couple who sing and get the audience involved in a bit of fun during dinner.

The kids loved getting up on stage, playing instruments and singing.  But I think they loved it most of all when the PARENTS had to get up on stage.  David (in a cow hat) singing “Give Me a Home among the Gum Trees”, and Rob singing in a red afro wig!  Pauline (in a hippy, Nimbin wig) and I (in a blonde afro wig) had to sing “Do Wa Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Do”.  Not pretty but the kids loved it!  They all want to go back for more tomorrow night.

It was our first real experience of the outback when we realised, with seven children to feed, that there was no bread or milk here until Thursday!!  (Wish we had known THAT before leaving Yulara!)  We knew that things must have been bad when all the biscuits in the shop are kept in the fridge!! Beth was fine with the thought of starving to death, but when she heard that there was no internet and she could not email her friends – well, that really was too much!!  Not to mention the fact that we have to close the “gates” to the toilets to stop the dingoes going in there!  There’s a first for me!! 

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)

DAY 9 – YULARA

Off to Kata Tjuta this morning for our Valley of the Winds walk.  It is still so cold in the morning and our walks don’t really warm ME up, but David says that says more about me than anything else.  My hubby is loving using his little BBQ plate to cook up bacon and eggs in the mornings.  And I must admit, those mornings when we don’t have to pack up are really special – you really feel like you are on holidays.  As David says, we are really “living the dream”.

The drive out to Kata Tjuta is beautiful.  I am constantly stunned by the beauty of the vistas, and the enormous difference in vegetation – the spinifex, the sheoaks, the scrubby bush, the rich, red, sandy soil.  I can really understand how attached you can become to the land out here.

The Kata Tjuta walk was really exhausting.  Only 7.4kms but much more difficult than yesterday and we are all exhausted.  Got some lovely photos.  Just stunning untouched landscape.  The kids have all been amazing.  Not a whinge out of them, and it really was a very difficult walk!!  Lots of rocks and climbing.  Even Bridgie, bringing up the rear, did a great job.  David, ever the teacher, kept her entertained by getting her to count in 2’s and 3’s to 200!!  Another night in front of the fire tonight with our jaffle irons!!  Nothing like a good Aussie fire, cooking toasted sangers and toasting marshmallows.  “Living the dream!!”

Uluru

DAY 8 – YULARA

What a fantastic day!!  We were planning on an early morning walk around the rock but just as the Parsons got into the car, a flat tyre was found!!  So unlucky to get a nail in tyre out here.  So the wonderful Alpha males crawled around in the red dirt while Pauline read (annoyingly!) from the instruction manual, explaining to them how to loosen wheel nuts!!  We were told to go and nurture the children and stick to women’s work.  Tyre changed, we were on the road!

The Parsons intended to climb the rock where we were just doing the base walk.  We started with the ranger guided Mala Walk which was really interesting – learning about how proficient the Aborigines are in understanding and using the trees and plants around them.  He was calling the trees a supermarket, hardware store and chemist all rolled into one.  He explained that Uluru was just a family name and did not really mean anything.  It was just the family name of the Anangu people who lived there.

While the Parsons went back for “the climb”, we proceeded around the base of the rock – 10.6kms, about 3.5 hours of solid walking. 

The rock itself is just stunning.  There are really no words to describe its beauty, serenity and size.  In some places the rock is just a sheer drop to the ground – 90 storeys high in some places!  The waterholes were just stunning – so peaceful and secluded.  There really aren’t words to describe how beautiful this place is.  It is easy to see how people call Uluru “the heart of Australia”.  As we walked around the rock, you felt like you were the only people in the world.

The walk around the base of the rock was so interesting on a number of levels.  We saw the site of the original camping ground and hotels which disappeared in the 1980s when the new Yulara Resort was built.  The north, south, east and west sides of the rock are so different.  The eastern face of the rock has a number of erosion marks which the kids loved making up stories about, similar to what you do with clouds!  On that side, the vegetation was gorgeous – just like a native garden with so many different flowers and shrubs.  The southern face of the rock has completely different vegetation because it has a lot more shade – taller, shadier gum trees, much less flowering shrubs, but much grassier and cooler.  The waterhole around that side was beautiful.  It was good to explain to the kids (and me!) that the Aborigines would not have swum in these waterholes because they would have been important sources of drinking water and so it was very important to keep them clean. 

We came home for some shopping and collecting of firewood before heading back to the rock for sunset.  A little disappointing as it was very overcast and so the changing of the rock colour was not particularly obvious.   But we more than made up for it with our cheeses and Moet Chandon champagne for the momentous occasion!

Home for a good Aussie BBQ and toasting marshmallows around the campfire!  The kids just had a ball, chasing each other around and then sitting around the big fire.  Such a great night.

Kulgera to Yulara

DAY 7 – KULGERA – YULARA

It was great not even having unhitched the car this morning, to just put things away in the van, and head straight out of the roadhouse.  We headed straight to Yulara.  David loved tricking the kids on the way.  (To the untrained eye, Mt Conner looks surprisingly like Uluru from a distance!!)

It is a lovely camping ground with great facilities.   We did some shopping at the supermarket (yes, they have a supermarket here now!!) and then went out to Uluru to the Interpretive Centre which was so interesting.  Bridgie took great delight in dragging me to a spot she had decided was a great view of the rock!!  The guy on the checkout at the souvenir shop was the grandson of Cassidy Uluru, a famous personality around Uluru.  I was talking to him about our trip and he said he would like to do that one day.  He had lived all his life with his mother’s tribe in Carnavon and moved to be with his father’s tribe eleven years ago.  He had never been out of the Northern Territory or W.A.  It occurred to me how similar we were in the sense that I had never BEEN to the Northern Territory or most of W.A. 

Saw a glimpse of the famous Ulura sunset from the viewing point at the caravan park before settling in for dinner and a drink with the Parsons!  Can’t wait for tomorrow.  Up early for a walk around the rock!!

Coober Pedy to Kulgera

DAY 6 – COOBER PEDY – KULGERA

Up early and off to The Breakaways, 30 kms north of Coober Pedy, which used to be an inland sea, and what we now call hills, were once islands.  This was one of the scenes from Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert.  Just stunning scenery.

Then off for our trip to Kulgera Roadhouse, halfway point between Coober Pedy and Yulara. We had happy hour in the pub with the kids all writing in their journals watching the little mouse run back and forth. We had heard there were mice there (like the plague at William Creek) so Mummy decided all the children had to be in the caravan with us.  So all six of us slept together.  We did not leave the heating on, thinking that with six bodies is such close confines we would be warm enough, but it was freezing.  The kids don’t seem to mind.  They slept!  But David left his shoes outside and in the morning they were frozen!!  The kids all thought this was very funny!

Coober Pedy

DAY 5 – COOBER PEDY

Coober Pedy is a much smaller town than I had anticipated; less than 2000 people, of which 15% are Aboriginal.  We had a beautiful relaxing morning – our first morning without having to move out!!  Hubby cooked up a beautiful breakfast of bacon and egg muffins on our little BBQ plate.  We then went into town and visited the St Peter and St Paul Catholic Church, which was the first church built underground in Coober Pedy.  As with all traveling, we managed to meet two couples there.  One was a solicitor who has a brother who trains horses in Mornington.  David loved telling him that he gets caught behind Patrick Carey Racing Stables van every morning on Racecourse Road on the way to work!  The other gentleman was a Clerk of Courts at Moe Magistrates’ Court for many years, and although was not there when I worked there, knew many of the people I worked with, and in fact saw my old boss, Mark Woods, at a funeral recently!!  Such a small world.

We then managed to do some opal buying, before heading into the Coober Pedy Hotel for an underground look at the history of Coober Pedy and the sealing by 1987 of the Stuart Highway.  Thank God we are not traveling on dirt roads!!  Then over to Josephine’s Gallery and Kangaroo Orphanage for some joey feeding and a great talk by the guy who runs it.  Of course this was a highlight for the kids!

The afternoon was spent at the Old Timer’s Mine where we had a demonstration of some mine equipment, and Bridget almost lost her arm up the blower!!  The mine display was excellent, and the kids loved seeing how the miners climbed in and out of the mines.  The “dugout”, or underground home, was just fascinating.  It was largely built by Ron and Jenny Gough, including a bedroom for their daughters which Ron dug by hand.  The even had an ensuite and great kitchen area and lived there until 1990.  The kids were just upset that apparently they had the same spice rack as we do at home so they immediately demanded that I get rid of it “because it is too olden days”!!  We learnt about Mrs Halliday, the first miner’s wife to arrive at Coober Pedy in 1921.  Mam, what a woman!!  Not the life for me!  Women today are much too soft!!  It is enough of an adventure for me to do what I am doing now with all the creature comforts that we have.  She did it by coach with hardly any food!

Our good friends, the Parsons sent us a photo of their new car, complete with smashed windscreen so when they limped into Coober Pedy it really WAS time for a quiet ale or two.  This was really needed when hearing about the mice plague they dealt with at William Creek.  Thank God we decided NOT to see Lake Eyre full for the first time in 25 years!  Was a great night, swapping stories and hearing about their nightmare night on Lake Eyre.  Kids had a ball and had traditional Aussie BBQ and beer.

Port Augusta to Coober Pedy

DAY 4 – PORT AUGUSTA TO COOBER PEDY

Left Port August early this morning.  Not a great deal to recommend it!!  Off to meet the Parsons family in Woomera.  Emus were abundant along the highway which made the kids’ day!  So great to see animals in their natural habitat.  Even a Wedged-Tail Eagle having a breakfast of some roadkill, refused to budge as our Prado and caravan thundered by!

Woomera was not far off the highway at all and has had a checkered history with US bases, rocket test range and immigration detention.  The Museum was interesting, although you can imagine our seven children seeing the photographs of the young people protesting the US bases at Nurrungar in the 1970s, with naked bottoms displayed to the world.  There was much tittering !!!  The kids found the film about the bombing of Brittain in WWII very interesting as it sparked the start of the research into rocket design.

After a few moments of Rob and David comparing vans and Pauline and I discussing caravan waving etiquette (and lunch being over) we both headed off – the Parsons to Lake Eyre and the Hansens to Coober Pedy!!

Again, I just have so few words to describe the vastness of the land we are experiencing.  And we aren’t yet really in the middle of nowhere!  The immense distances we are travelling see dwarfed by the infinite horizon which just always seems out of reach.  Each part of the day seems slightly different in the way the sunlight reflects off the land.  The landscape seemed to change today from very rocky to very red sand.

The fascinating thing upon entry to Coober Pedy this afternoon was the fact that there is no one big company mining for opals here.  Rather, there seems to be hundreds (in fact at last count, more than 250,000 mine shaft entrances with each  prospector allowed a 15 square metre claim.  With a population of only 2000 people it was much smaller than I had imagined.  And no water to the vans in the caravan park – a new thing for me – so all water has to be carried to the van or dishes etc have to be washed in the camp kitchen.  Yes, all you smarties who are telling me this is how 80% of the world’s population lives!!  I know that!  And it isn’t fun.  Really makes you think about how many times you run the tap when you are cooking dinner and how you really take that convenience for granted.

For those Trivia buffs among you, Coober Pedy has been the scene of filming for Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and The Amazing Race.  It was also the scene of the filmclip for INXS’s “Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)”.

Tomorrow is our first day without driving and I must admit we are looking forward to it.  Intend to celebrate with a sleep in and bacon and egg muffins!!  We will wander around the town and see what mischief we can get up to!

Broken Hill to Port Augusta

DAY 3 – BROKEN HILL TO PORT AUGUSTA

Man!  This is impressive!  Three states in three days!!  Just keeping up with the time zones is a job and a half!!

David and the kids all went off on their morning walk while I had a long hot shower and fixed up the van.  Even though we are on a time schedule, just the ability to do what we want to do when we want to do it is so freeing!!  At the moment it is so dark in the mornings – I am looking forward to that changing – but the night skies are just stunning.  No wonder so many songs have been written about stars.  It is so clear and every star seems to have its proper place, even though it seems God just threw them all up there in a chaotic mess!

We went out to the Living Dessert Sanctuary about 12 kms north of Broken Hill this morning which was spectacular.  Being the only people there was so special.  You could really imagine what it was like for explorers like Sturt who could look for miles and not see any sign of civilisation.  The Flora and Fauna reserve involved a walk of a couple of kilometres around rocky outcrops.  There were stops along the way with information for the kids.  There were Sturt Dessert Peas growing in their natural habitat which even David had never seen.  There were reconstructed Aboriginal branch dwellings which sheltered them from the wind and the sun.  The kids were amazed at how they lived.  There were loads of Red Kangaroos, Blue Fliers and Wallaroos (again a few Japanese tourist moments where the children were clicking nineteen to the dozen!!)  We climbed to a lookout which pointed out we were 831 kms from Melbourne and over 3000 kms from Darwin.  It was an absolutely amazing view – just as far as the eye could see rolling acres of untouched country.  So special.  We also saw some disused mine shafts where unsuccessful miners carried out work in the 19^th century. 

After that, we made our way through Manna Hill and Peterborough to Port Augusta by about 5:30pm – quite late for us as it is difficult to put up the van in the dark. 

Mildura to Broken Hill

DAY 2 – MILDURA TO BROKEN HILL

Everyone up early this morning, except Tessie – good to know some things don’t change!!  But my husband started his health kick with a 14 km walk this morning.  AND he is eating fruit!!  We should have done this trip years ago. 

The drive from Mildura to Broken Hill is amazing!  Quintessential Australian outback.  Just kilometres and kilometres of flat, open spaces as far as the eye can see.  The sense of vastness – emptiness – peace, is profound.  The kids are so enjoying listening to their music and watching the beautiful landscape pass by.  Beth in particular keeps saying how much she loves it and how much more this is ‘the real’ Australia for her. 

We arrived early into “windy Broken Hill” – so windy that we could not even put up the awning.  Hopefully the kids won’t blow away tonight.  We have put the tent in between the van and the car so they shouldn’t blow too far!

We went out to try to find David’s great-grandfather’s grave at Broken Hill cemetery.  It took much looking but finally found Maurice Hansen, who died in 1917 and his two year old son, Frederick, who died in 1919, in the “Catholic part” of the cemetery!  Very moving to stand there and pray with Maurice’s great-great grandchildren.

Off to Silverton after that and what an amazing drive!  I suppose I have never been to this part of our country before so I am finding all the new vistas just so inspiring.  The word that just keeps coming to mind is vast.  It is just so expansive, this country.  Driving to Silverton, as far as the eye could see was just flat red dirt, spinifex, tuffs of grass and the (very) odd small tree.  We stopped just short of Silverton for some photos of a herd of brumbies grazing beside the road.  Not worried by us at all, they looked at the kids taking photos like they were a pack of Japanese tourists! Just on the other side of Silverton is the Mundi Mundi lookout, where many of the scenes from Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert and Mad Max movies were shot.  It truly takes your breath away – the immenseness of the outback.  It gives you a real sense of the spirit of the land.

The old Silverton Gaol is now a museum housing memorabilia from all aspects of the relatively short life of Silverton (1884 – 1896) which is now a ghost town.  The educational, sporting, and domestic odds and sods were amazing for the kids to see.  They were not impressed with the little school satchel the school children used, nor the toilet for the prisoners! 

The Silverton Hotel, where some of the scenes from A Town Like Alice and Razorback were filmed, was a great place to visit for a drink (or a hot chocolate and a warm up by the fire for Sarah) and the solving of puzzles for the kids on the bar! Looking forward to snuggling up in my nice warm bed and reading tonight – ok I do feel a bit bad about my kids out there in the cold – although they keep telling me:  “Take a ‘chill pill’, Mum, we are fine!!”

Mt Martha to Mildura

DAY 1 – MT MARTHA – MILDURA

How exciting!!  After five years of planning our big adventure – HANSEN TREK 2011 – has finally arrived!  So much excitement, so much preparation, so much trepidation!!  We are so looking forward to this amazing opportunity to spend time in each other’s company and create beautiful memories for and with each other.

Of course, life is always exciting when my husband is around.  Before leaving on the trip he did manage to destroy two jockey wheels, cut the 15 amp power lead and trip all the electricity to our home.  But as Scottie pointed out, three things had gone wrong so the trip had been disaster-proofed!!

Up early on the first day – a 5:30am start.  The kids were all so excited to be jumping out of bed.  Just as the toast was being consumed, the beautiful Scott and Gab arrived to farewell us!  What a lovely gesture at 6:15 in the morning!!  A couple of photos and one or two forgotten items later and we were on our way … to the United Servo on Racecourse Road!! Just for a last “fill up” before the diesel gets really expensive!!

It was great leaving so early in the morning.  Aside from no traffic, the sunrise was amazing.  It reminded us that without life’s clouds, you can’t really appreciate all the beauty!

We stopped in Charlton for lunch at 11:30am and were able to see St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary school, to which St. Macartan’s donated money and items after the recent flood.   It was great for the kids to be able to experience that this was a real place with real people.  Then on to Berriwilluk to see Jo Dean’s home town and the place of her first alcoholic drink!! 

Reached Mildura about 3:30pm and set up.  The caravan park was beautiful with the enormous River Gums over our heads with their beautiful grey, mottled trunks.  Had a kick of the footy and a good barbie for dinner. Our night time walk was so peaceful.  The beautiful Murray was so quiet, so still.  It was so strange to stand there and look at Victoria on the other side.  The kids loved seeing a cheeky possum who kept peeking out from behind a tree at us.   It was so nice just to go back and sit in the van, read and talk to my husband without any interruptions!